Chapter 92 — One Hundred Hours

The Darven Origin Blade collided with the Shadow Lion's claw.

Kael's entire body was pushed backward.

He slid across the black ground, boots carving a long line through the soil.

The Lion didn't stop.

It vanished.

Kael immediately activated Spatial Detection.

Nothing.

His danger sense triggered.

Too late.

A shadow erupted beneath him.

Kael jumped.

The Lion appeared.

Its paw swung.

Kael raised the Origin Blade.

BOOM!

The impact launched him into the trees.

He crashed through two branches before hitting the ground.

The Vanguard Armor absorbed part of the force.

The rest traveled through his body.

Kael rolled and stood.

His breathing became heavy.

The Lion remained several meters away.

It wasn't rushing.

It was watching.

Kael understood.

It knew he was weaker.

It wasn't going to give him an easy opening.

Kael raised V-01X.

Configuration III.

Spatial Anchor.

BANG!

The projectile struck the ground.

A spatial field expanded.

The Lion disappeared.

Kael turned.

Nothing.

The field remained empty.

Then—

the darkness above him moved.

The Lion descended.

Kael blocked.

CLANG!

The force knocked the weapon from his hand.

Kael reached for it—

but the Lion's second claw was already coming.

He jumped backward.

The claw missed.

The Lion followed.

Kael fired at point-blank range.

BANG!

Spatial energy exploded.

The Lion's movement slowed for an instant.

Kael grabbed the Origin Blade.

He attacked.

SLASH!

Shoulder.

SLASH!

Chest.

The Lion retreated.

For a moment—

the damage remained.

Kael's eyes sharpened.

Then darkness flowed over the wounds.

They disappeared.

Kael frowned.

“Still too fast.”

The Lion's crimson eyes narrowed.

“You know what comes next.”

Kael's expression became serious.

The Lion vanished.

Kael raised both weapons.

Nothing.

Then—

every shadow around him moved.

Kael turned.

A hundred black silhouettes appeared.

He couldn't tell which was real.

He spread Spatial Anchors.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three fields.

The shadows moved between them.

Kael fired again.

Another field.

The Lion's movement became slightly more predictable.

Kael rushed.

A claw appeared.

He blocked.

A second came from behind.

He twisted.

A third—

Kael was too slow.

BOOM!

The strike launched him across the battlefield.

He hit the ground.

The System flashed.

[Vanguard Armor Integrity: 18%.]

[Host Vitality: 37%.]

Kael pushed himself upright.

His vision blurred for a moment.

The Lion stood in front of him.

It had barely been scratched.

Kael knew the truth.

He could not defeat it like this.

Not yet.

The power gap was too large.

He had planned for that.

He looked down at his hand.

At the ring.

Legendary Immortality.

One hundred hours.

Five seconds.

Exact death location.

Pain remained.

Permanent defeat prevented.

Kael remembered what he had learned during the simulation.

It wasn't a free victory.

If he died in a terrible location, he would return there.

If he died inside the Lion's attack range, he could be killed again immediately.

But—

he had to use it eventually.

And this was already beyond the point where normal survival could teach him enough.

Kael raised his head.

The Lion stared at him.

“You have reached the limit of what your current life can teach you.”

Kael's eyes narrowed.

The Lion continued.

“What will you do?”

Kael looked at the ring.

Then back at the Beast.

He smiled.

“Learn faster.”

He touched the ring.

The world seemed to stop.

A notification appeared.

[Legendary Immortality detected.]

[Activation confirmed.]

[Duration: 100 hours.]

[Reformation Delay: 5 seconds.]

[Pain Perception: Active.]

[Death: Possible.]

[Permanent Defeat During Duration: Prevented.]

[Once activated, the countdown cannot be stopped.]

[Activate?]

Kael took one breath.

“Yes.”

The ring released a pulse.

WHUM!

The entire Shadow Domain reacted.

The black trees trembled.

The prison chains vibrated.

Even the Shadow Lion's expression changed.

The System appeared one final time.

[LEGENDARY IMMORTALITY ACTIVE.]

[99:59:59]

[Remaining Lives: No Limit During Duration.]

Kael looked at the timer.

One hundred hours had begun.

The Lion slowly smiled.

“Now we can begin.”

The Lion disappeared.

Kael immediately activated every detection system.

Still nothing.

He didn't panic.

He expected the first attack.

A shadow appeared beneath him.

Kael moved.

The Lion emerged from the left.

Kael blocked.

The Beast attacked again.

Kael parried.

Again.

He dodged.

Again.

He countered.

The Lion was slightly faster than before.

Or perhaps—

Kael was finally seeing its true speed.

Kael fired.

BANG!

Spatial Anchor.

The Lion moved around it.

Kael had expected this.

He created another.

Then another.

The Lion changed direction.

Kael followed.

For several seconds—

he kept up.

Then the Lion changed its attack pattern.

It disappeared.

Kael waited.

Nothing.

He turned slowly.

Still nothing.

The Lion appeared directly behind him.

Its claw was already moving.

Kael raised the Origin Blade.

The impact knocked the sword away.

A second strike came.

Kael couldn't move far enough.

Everything went black.

Five seconds later—

Kael reappeared.

Same place.

Same position.

Same battlefield.

He gasped.

His body was restored.

But the memory of the final moment remained.

The fear.

The impact.

The helplessness.

The Lion was already waiting.

“One.”

Kael stared.

“You count?”

“You should.”

Kael understood.

Every death was information.

He immediately opened his notebook.

But before he could write—

the Lion attacked again.

Kael moved.

This time, he knew where the first attack would come from.

He blocked.

The Beast changed.

A claw came from another direction.

Kael dodged.

Then—

the tail.

He jumped.

Then the shadow beneath him.

Kael activated Metal Control.

A barrier formed.

The attack hit.

The barrier shattered.

But Kael survived.

His eyes sharpened.

“It's chaining attacks based on my previous reaction.”

The Lion smiled.

“Correct.”

Kael changed his movement.

He deliberately reacted differently.

The Beast followed.

Kael adapted again.

The fight continued.

Three minutes.

Four.

Five.

Kael lasted longer.

Then—

the Lion used a new technique.

The darkness around Kael compressed.

Movement became almost impossible.

Kael tried to activate Spatial Configuration.

The pressure disrupted the weapon.

The Lion appeared.

Kael attacked.

The Origin Blade missed.

A claw struck.

Kael died again.

Five seconds.

He returned.

[Reformation successful.]

[Remaining Legendary Immortality Duration: 99:47:18]

Kael didn't waste time.

He had learned the new technique.

Shadow Pressure Field.

He wrote it down.

The Lion attacked again.

Kael moved differently.

When the field appeared—

he didn't resist it.

Instead, he deliberately remained inside long enough to study the pressure.

The Lion expected him to retreat.

Kael stayed.

The claws came.

He died again.

Five seconds.

Reformation.

This time—

Kael returned already knowing the sequence.

The pressure field.

Then the left claw.

Then the shadow transit.

Then the finishing strike.

Kael dodged the first.

Blocked the second.

Anchored the third.

Then attacked.

SLASH!

The Origin Blade struck the Lion's shoulder.

The Beast stepped back.

Kael smiled.

“Three deaths.”

The Lion's eyes narrowed.

“And you learned from each.”

Kael raised his sword.

“That was the point.”

The next twenty minutes became a brutal cycle.

Kael attacked.

The Lion adapted.

Kael died.

Five seconds.

He returned.

He changed one thing.

The Lion adapted again.

He died.

Returned.

Changed another thing.

Died again.

Returned.

Slowly—

Kael began building a complete mental model.

He learned that the Lion preferred attacking from the darkest nearby shadow when Kael's attention was focused on the previous position.

He learned that the Lion used the tail as a setup rather than a finishing attack.

He learned that its Shadow Pressure Field always preceded a deeper Shadow Step.

He learned that the Beast deliberately created false openings.

He learned that when its left ear moved—

a hidden attack was already forming.

He learned that the black tree wasn't merely part of the prison.

It amplified the Lion's regeneration.

Every death gave him another piece.

Every reformation returned him to the exact same battlefield.

That was the dangerous part.

If he chose his death location carefully—

each return was a restart from the same tactical position.

If he chose poorly—

he could become trapped.

So Kael began doing something different.

He controlled where he died.

Kael stood near a large clearing.

He looked around.

No trees directly above him.

No deep shadows.

Several Spatial Anchors already active.

He smiled.

This was a good reformation point.

The Lion appeared.

Kael rushed.

The Beast attacked.

Kael intentionally exposed his left side.

The Lion struck.

Kael didn't defend.

He allowed the attack to take him.

Everything went dark.

Five seconds.

Kael reappeared.

Exactly where he had planned.

He immediately activated the spatial anchors.

The Lion appeared directly in front of him.

Kael fired.

BANG!

Spatial Anchor.

The Beast's movement was restricted.

Kael charged.

The Origin Blade flashed.

SLASH!

The Lion dodged.

Kael attacked again.

SLASH!

The Beast retreated.

Kael had converted his death into a positional reset.

The Lion understood.

Its smile disappeared.

“You are learning to use death.”

Kael nodded.

“That's what you gave me.”

The Lion's crimson eyes narrowed.

“Interesting.”

For the next hour—

Kael became more effective.

He wasn't stronger.

But he was learning faster.

His first death had taught him about attack timing.

His fifth taught him about shadow movement.

His tenth taught him about the Domain's blind spots.

His fifteenth taught him that the Lion could create false spatial signatures.

His twentieth taught him something more important.

The Lion could predict his reformation behavior.

It knew he would return to his death location.

So it began positioning attacks around likely reformation sites.

Kael reformed.

A claw was already waiting.

He died again.

Five seconds.

He returned.

This time—

he immediately rolled away.

The claw missed.

Kael smiled.

“You thought I'd repeat it.”

The Lion's eyes narrowed.

“You are becoming troublesome.”

Kael fired.

BANG!

The battle continued.

After dozens of exchanges—

Kael finally reached the true objective.

The Shadow Core.

His repeated deaths had allowed him to map the Lion's energy cycle.

The Core pulsed.

The Domain responded.

Then—

one weakness.

During the instant when the Core stabilized the Domain—

its outer layer became vulnerable.

Less than half a second.

Kael needed to hit it exactly.

But a normal attack couldn't.

He needed the Origin Blade.

He waited.

The Lion attacked.

Kael dodged.

Another.

He blocked.

Another.

He died.

Reformation.

Again.

The Lion attacked.

Kael moved.

The Core pulsed.

Kael didn't attack.

He waited.

The next pulse.

Nothing.

Third.

There.

Kael attacked.

SLASH!

The Origin Blade struck the shadow around the Core.

The Lion recoiled.

For the first time—

a deep crack appeared across its chest.

Its Shadow Domain flickered.

Kael's eyes widened.

The System responded.

[Shadow Core vulnerability confirmed.]

[Core instability: 17%]

The Lion roared.

Its darkness exploded.

Kael was thrown backward.

He landed.

The Lion's regeneration immediately activated.

The crack disappeared.

Kael frowned.

“It's not enough.”

He needed more.

Much more.

He needed to damage the Core repeatedly within a short period.

The problem—

the Lion wouldn't allow him to stay close that long.

Kael looked at the timer.

[Legendary Immortality Remaining: 98:21:44]

More than ninety-eight hours remained.

For the first time—

Kael smiled.

He had time.

Not unlimited.

But enough.

“Then I'll learn until I can do it.”

The Lion stared at him.

“You understand what that means?”

Kael raised the Origin Blade.

“It means I don't need to win this fight today.”

The Lion's crimson eyes glowed.

“No.”

Its body disappeared into darkness.

“You need to win before your hundred hours end.”

Kael looked at the timer.

Then at the forest.

Then into the darkness where the Beast had vanished.

“I will.”

The Lion attacked again.

But Kael no longer fought like a hunter attempting to survive a powerful monster.

He fought like an experimenter with unlimited attempts.

Each life had a purpose.

One life—

measure attack speed.

Another—

test Spatial Anchors.

Another—

study Domain transitions.

Another—

test Penetration Configuration.

Another—

test the Origin Blade.

Another—

observe the Core.

Another—

test the prison chain.

Another—

measure regeneration.

Death was no longer simply failure.

It was data.

And the Lion realized what Kael was doing.

The Beast's expression slowly changed.

What had begun as amusement became caution.

Then concern.

Because Kael was doing something no ordinary opponent could do.

He was fighting a Legendary Beast—

and learning from every death.

The timer continued counting down.

[98:03:17]

The next hundred hours would determine whether Kael could overcome the gap between Level 50 and a true Legendary Beast.

He was still vastly weaker.

He still couldn't survive for long in a straight battle.

But now—

he had something no ordinary warrior possessed.

Infinite attempts.

And the willingness to use every single one.

The Shadow Lion emerged.

Kael raised his sword.

“Again.”

The Beast charged.

And the hunt continued.